Lantos Prize

Paul Rusesabagina Remarks, 2011 Lantos Prize

My dear friends of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, please help me to thank Ms. Katrina Lantos Swett and the entire staff and Board Members of the Lantos Foundation for their conviction to human rights. They have stood up to threats and protests designed to silence our pleas for human rights and freedom in my beloved Rwanda.

My dear friends, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I am deeply, deeply humbled to receive the prestigious Lantos Foundation Human Rights Award. I am an ordinary man. I feel incredibly honored to be elevated to the same class as His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Professor Elie Wiesel, who have received this award before me. Please help me to thank these 2 distinguished and towering figures who have contributed so much to the advancement of humanity. (Applause) They are now high on the list of my mentors, and I hope they will be kind enough to share with me their precious knowledge and wisdom. As I receive this award, I ask you join me in committing to the idea that never again must mean never again.

In 1994, I watched my country dissolve into chaos and mayhem.  I was a hotel manager, not a soldier nor a politician. Still, I listened to the little voice inside me, my conscience, and tried to do everything that I could to stop the violence and to shelter the 1,268 who had come to my hotel for shelter. Some who at first could pay, some who just ran to us for safety, but we all made it through hell.  I am proud to say that the Milles Collines Hotel was the only public place in Rwanda where no one died, no one was beaten and everyone who sought shelter made it through the Genocide alive.

Today I tell my story – the story of those who died during the terrible genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Over 400,000 Tutsis. Another 400,000 Hutus. I try to provide a voice to the voiceless. As you may know, a humanitarian can often measure his success by how harshly his work is criticized, and my critics often say that I deny the genocide. Nothing can be further from the truth. I am here as a living testament to that genocide. To those who died. To provide testimony about the horrible people in that Hutu elite government, in the military, and in the militias who caused those deaths. The genocide was a terrible, defining moment in my life and in that of my country. And it must not be forgotten.

17 years after the genocide , we don’t have two armies fighting to the death for power control, nor do we have roving gangs of militiamen killing innocent villagers by the thousands every 10 minutes. We have a country that, on the surface, appears to be peaceful. But it is a country with no space for political dissent or real democratic action. The potential violence is just below the surface.  As the human rights abuses spread and media suppression grows, things get more dangerous. I am calling upon the international community to work with me for a truth and reconciliation process to break the historic cycle of violence in Rwanda and replace it with sustainable peace.

But what I have found over the years is that Rwanda has unfortunately not changed so much. The leaders who caused the genocide are now gone, and this is an excellent thing. But Rwanda has new leaders now, and as we say in Kinyarwanda, the dancers have changed, but the music stays the same.

Now I spend my time as a humanitarian. Reminding people that we must never forget. And saddened that we forget all too often.

In addition to talking about 1994, I also cannot stay silent about what is happening in Rwanda today. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press do not exist. Political oppression is the norm. Opposition leaders are arrested and killed. Today in Rwanda, leaders insist that a dictatorship is necessary to safeguard the people. In fact, as with all dictatorship it only serves to safeguard itself.

And the current government – the government that we all believed in 1994 had saved Rwanda from the genocide – is now responsible for unthinkable violence next door in the Congo. Over six million people dead in a war driven by conflict minerals. With so much that the United Nations says that war crimes have been committed by the current Rwandan government. Crimes against humanity. And possibly even a new genocide.

I see my native country, the home of my heart, and I cannot stay silent. I fear that it is now a dormant volcano, waiting to erupt again.

As Katrina knows only too well, raising my voice comes at a price. During the genocide I and my family were often in terrible danger. Now, I am threatened once again on a regular basis.

It seems that authoritarian leaders do not appreciate the work of humanitarians. And sometimes they will go to extreme means to stop it. But the preparation for this award has made me realize though that I am not alone. I want to very much thank Katrina and everyone at the Lantos Foundation not just for this award, but for their support in recent weeks. As the Rwandan government and its advocates tried to silence my voice, they were steadfast in standing up for what was right. In standing up for free speech, and for the prospect of truth, reconciliation and peace in my native Rwanda. They stood up for the power of words to heal our differences. With a few more people like those at the Lantos Foundation, the world will be a much better place.

In closing, I would like to leave you with the words of a great man, Mr. Albert Einstein. He said:

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”

I hope you will join me in saying that never again must mean never again. I hope you will join me in doing something when we see evil. In confronting it. I hope you will join me in being ordinary people, who take every opportunity to do the right thing.

I thank you all for listening to my words today. And I thank the Lantos Foundation from the bottom of my heart for this award. Thank you.

Remarks by Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett; Lantos Prize Event 2011

Good Morning, I am Katrina Lantos Swett and along with my sister Annette and my mother Annette, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the 2011 Lantos Human Rights Prize award ceremony. Many years ago when I was a very young, newly minted lawyer working on Capitol Hill for then Senator Joe Biden, I was being romantically pursued by another Hill staffer. This young man, who shall remain nameless, had the most thought provoking pick-up line that I was ever on the receiving end of. And although I never actually went out on a date with him, I also never forgot his question. It was the following:

“If tonight as you prepare to go to bed, the light in your room grows brighter and brighter and you find yourself miraculously in the presence of God and He tells you, I will answer any single question for you; what would you ask? I thought long and hard about how I would use such a precious opportunity. I didn’t want to ask a question that I probably already knew the answer to such as what is the greatest thing in life? Love! Or how can we achieve peace and reconciliation? Forgiveness and mutual understanding.

In the end I decided I would ask God a very personal question because I believe that to the extent he works in this world, it is most often through us. And so the question I determined I would ask was: “What will be the greatest moral challenge I will face in my life and will I be equal to it? Will I meet it in a way that makes you proud?” Our honoree this year, Mr. Paul Rusesabagina, has answered that question and has done so resoundingly in the affirmative.

World renowned author, Nobel Laureate and last year’s recipient of the Lantos Prize, Professor Elie Wiesel has written that “Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion or political views, that place must, at that moment, become the center of the universe” Seventeen years ago when Rwanda desperately needed to be the center of the universe the world instead turned away. As a genocidal assault was unleashed on the Tutsi people, the community of nations, to their everlasting shame, stood by and did nothing and as a consequence nearly a million Rwandans were massacred in just 100 days. But while the mighty and powerful found reasons and excuses to turn away, Paul Rusesabagina, a self-described “ordinary man” did not turn away. Paul’s brave and profoundly decent actions as the manager of the Hotel Des Milles Collines, helped save the lives of over 1,200 hundred Tutsis and moderate Hutus who had taken refuge in his hotel.

What is remarkable about Paul Rusesabagina’s achievement is that it was not the result of a grandiose plan to thwart the evil that was raging outside the gates of his hotel. No not at all. Paul would be the first to say that minute to minute – day to day- making it up as he went along, he was simply determined to do one more thing to try and save lives for one more day. Where did he find the strength and humanity to do this-to live out the idea that he was indeed his brothers’ and sisters’ keepers? I don’t know, but I do know that we can perhaps hope to find similar strength and humanity from following his example.

Paul’s story is one that particularly resonates with my family because it reminds us of the heroic rescue mission of the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust, including my father Tom Lantos. In 2012 we will celebrate the centennial of Raoul Wallenberg’s birth and it is fitting indeed that Paul has previously been awarded the Wallenberg medal for his outstanding humanitarian actions on behalf of the defenseless.

I spoke earlier of wanting to inquire of God what might be the great moral test of my life. Paul met his great test and he would have been more than justified in seeking a life of quiet and peace in which he could be recognized for his good works but also left alone to enjoy the simple ordinary pleasures of his family and friends. Perhaps it is not surprising that Paul instead chose the path less travelled and more fraught with risk. While recognizing the significant progress that has been made in Rwanda under President Kagame, Paul has nonetheless dared to speak out against the serious challenges to democracy and human rights that exist in Rwanda today. His call for a peace and reconciliation process is the right prescription for a country that still faces deep rooted tensions that, if not addressed could pose a serious risk to the people of this region who have already suffered so much. Sadly, Paul’s willingness to publicly confront these issues has made him the target of bitter attacks on his character and motives. Unfortunately these attacks appear to be consistent with a disturbing pattern of censorship, intimidation and even violence that has been directed against those who have dared voice concerns about the government of Rwanda. This pattern is not unique to Rwanda. As Mark Twain observed, history may not repeat itself but it often rhymes. Raoul Wallenberg was arrested and sent to the Soviet Gulag for his heroic deeds during the Holocaust, Martin Luther King Jr. who was hailed in America when he became the youngest Nobel Laureate, became the subject of bitter denunciation when he spoke out against our involvement in the Viet Nam war, and last year’s recipient of the Nobel prize, the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, languishes in a Chinese prison for daring to write about a democratic future for his country. I suppose we could say that Paul is in good company and as he told me just a few weeks ago, “I am not threatened and I will not be silent” As Charlie Clements, the director of the Harvard Carr Center for human rights said recently: “It has never been Paul Rusesabagina’s nature to stay in his place. He would not have saved lives in the hotel had he stayed in his role as hotel manager”

We are so proud at the Lantos Foundation to be adding our recognition to the many others that Paul has rightly received. This “extra” ordinary man never wielded a gun, never swung a machete, but he used his words and his humanity to find a small path in the darkness and helped hundreds of his fellow human beings follow that path to safety. Paul Rusesabagina has set a path for us to follow as well.

Thank you very much.

Lantos Foundation Responds to Protests

CONCORD, NH – Katrina Lantos Swett, President of The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, responded today to a protest staged in opposition to the upcoming award of the 2011 Tom Lantos Human Rights Prize to Rwandan humanitarian Paul Rusesabagina:

“The protest staged today is only the latest attempt to smear the good name of this year’s Lantos Prize recipient, Paul Rusesabagina.  These protests were not staged when the Oscar-nominated film “Hotel Rwanda” was released, nor were they staged when Paul received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bush.  It was only once he started to speak out about the need for more freedom and democracy in Rwanda, including a Truth and Reconciliation process, that these attacks were suddenly manufactured. Unfortunately these attacks appear to be consistent with a disturbing pattern of censorship, intimidation and even violence that has been directed at those who have dared voice concerns about the government of Rwanda. This pattern is not unique to Rwanda. Other authoritarian regimes have responded in a similar fashion.  

The most recent high profile example happened in 2010, when the Chinese government vehemently protested the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo and tried to bully governments into boycotting the Prize ceremony.  The irony of such manufactured protests is that, in the end, they only serve to provide a brighter spotlight to the intended target. 

As the child of Holocaust survivors, I, along with the Lantos Foundation staff, have made particular efforts to listen to the concerns of Rwandan genocide survivors who have contacted us. While many have thanked us for our decision to honor Paul Rusesabagina, there are others who have expressed contrary views.   We have spent hours talking to these individuals by phone and email, and even meeting with some in person.  The bottom-line is that the more we speak to them, the more it becomes painfully obvious that there is a “script” in place.  This script is at times absurd and at other times petty. They accuse Paul of denying the genocide when in fact he has devoted his life to telling the awful story of Rwanda’s genocide and working to achieve genuine peace and reconciliation. They complain that Paul charged the guests who found refuge in the hotela fact that Paul readily shares in his book, in person and in the movie Hotel Rwanda- money was needed to feed the 1200 people living in the hotel and to bribe the ever murderous gangs that prowled outside the hotel gates. At the end of the day, it seems that his real offense in their eyes, is that he has been outspoken in defense of democracy in Rwanda even in the face of determined efforts to silence him.

 We did not intend to cause controversy with this year’s Lantos Prize, but it seems the controversy has found us anyway.  We did not intend to step into the political disagreements that are currently swirling in and around Rwanda, but it seems we are not able to avoid that either.  We originally chose Paul Rusesabagina as the Lantos Prize recipient purely based on his heroic actions during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, not for his work since then through the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation.   But we now find ourselves quite in awe of Paul’s willingness to stand up and speak out for freedoms in his home country, despite the backlash that work has caused.

In the end, the most poignant take away from today’s events is that the very freedom to take part in these protests is something that wouldn’t be allowed in Rwanda under the current government.  Paul Rusesabagina is simply asking for his native country to experience the same of freedom and openness that we deeply value here in America.”     

The Lantos Foundation established the Lantos Human Rights Prize in 2009 to honor and bring attention to heroes of the human rights movement. It is awarded annually to an individual or organization that best exemplifies the Foundation’s mission, namely to be a vital voice standing up for the values of decency, dignity, freedom, and justice in every corner of the world. The prize also serves to commemorate the late Congressman Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to the U.S. Congress and a prominent advocate for human rights during his nearly three decades as a U.S. Representative.  Former recipients of the Lantos Prize include His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel.  This year’s award will be presented to Paul Rusesabagina in Washington, DC on November 16th.

Lantos Foundation Announces Recipient of 2010 Lantos Human Rights Prize

New York, NY, October 6, 2010 – The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice announced today that it will award the second annual Lantos Human Rights Prize to Professor Elie Wiesel for his unwavering commitment to the cause of human rights around the world.

The author of the internationally acclaimed memoir Night, which has been translated into more than thirty languages, Professor Weisel has received numerous awards for his literary and human rights activities. Soon after receiving the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1986, he and his wife Marion established The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity to fight indifference, intolerance and injustice. Wiesel has defended the cause of Cambodian refugees, victims of famine and genocide in Africa, victims of apartheid in South Africa, victims of war in the former Yugoslavia and is currently bringing attention to the political and legal injustice in Russia evidenced by the wrongful imprisonment of former YUKOS Oil CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

The Lantos Human Rights Prize is given annually to raise awareness about human rights and the brave individuals who are committed to fighting for them throughout the world. The prize also serves to commemorate Congressman Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to the U.S. Congress and a prominent advocate for human rights worldwide.

"Elie Wiesel embodies the spirit of the Lantos Human Rights Prize and the Foundation's mission, and we are pleased to be able to honor him and his contribution to the cause of human rights. He shares Tom's unwavering commitment to take the experiences of his youth and use them to fuel a passion for advancing human rights to all people. He is living proof that the powerful, eloquent voice of one man can help make the world a more tolerant and just place."

About the Lantos Foundation

The mission of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice is to strengthen the role of human rights in American foreign policy and to be a vital voice in standing up for our nation’s most important values of decency, dignity, freedom, and justice in every corner of the world.

The Award Ceremony will be held on November 17, 2010 in New York City. For more information, please contact the Lantos Foundation at 603-226-3636 or visit www.lantosfoundation.org.

First Recipient of Lantos Human Rights Prize is His Holiness the Dalai Lama

The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice today announced that His Holiness the Dalai Lama will receive the first annual Lantos Human Rights Prize. The prize will be awarded at a ceremony on October 6, 2009, at the United States Capitol Visitor Center.

The Lantos Foundation has established the Lantos Human Rights Prize, in the tradition of renowned prizes such as the Nobel Peace Prize or the Goldman Environmental Prize, to honor and bring attention to the often unsung heroes of the human rights movement. It will be awarded
on an annual basis to the individual or organization that best exemplifies the Foundation’s mission, namely to be a vital voice standing up for the values of decency, dignity, freedom, and justice in every corner of the world. The prize also serves to commemorate Congressman Tom
Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to the U.S. Congress and a prominent advocate for human rights during his nearly three decades as a U.S. Representative.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of six million, is one of the most highly honored peacemakers of our time. Previously the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, the United States Congressional Gold Medal and dozens of other awards, the Dalai Lama is well-known and respected for his teachings on peace and interfaith harmony. He was born in 1935 and was recognized as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama when he was two years old. He was enthroned as the Dalai Lama in 1940, ten years before the People’s Liberation Army of China invaded Tibet [Autonomous Region of China]. In 1959, the Dalai Lama fled and has lived in exile in Northern India since that time. He has waged a lifelong peaceful struggle for social justice – for Tibetans and others around the world – and under his leadership the Tibetans have formed a democratically elected government-in-exile. Even though the Dalai Lama has made conciliatory gestures towards the Chinese government, China maintains an iron-fisted rule over Tibet [Autonomous Region of China].

His Holiness is the only Dalai Lama to travel to the West, and his first visit to the U.S. Congress came at the invitation of Congressman Tom Lantos. The two leaders shared a deep and abiding commitment to the values of social justice, human dignity and freedom, and they formed a friendship at their initial meeting that lasted until the end of Congressman Lantos’ life.

“The Dalai Lama is a unique leader who in a gentle, gracious, yet undeniably powerful way, advocates for the rights of all humanity. He symbolizes the best that is in all of us and we are honored to present the inaugural Tom Lantos Human Rights Prize to this noble individual.” said Annette Lantos, wife of the late Congressman Lantos and Chairman of the Lantos Foundation.